Thoughts – Just Being Me

The Holmes

The Enola Holmes was in long watch list just pushed back for no particular reason. May be it was just too much of Milli Bobby Brown at that moment. There are quite many Sherlock(s) on the screen. Not that I’m complaining. With Robert Downey Jr. and Benedict Cumberbatch as framework (I have not watched older ones yet), it’s really difficult to overwrite their wonderful performances. Yet , there are two new Sherlocks recently. And, they didn’t disappoint.

Created by: Tom Bidwell
Based on: The works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
*ring: McKell David, Thaddea Graham, Jojo Macari, Harrison Osterfield, Darci Shaw

I started the Irregulars first. Not gonna lie, the story is a good one. But the screenplay sometimes feels awkward. The dialogues being pretty much predictable don’t do justice to the story. The show is about the five kids on the drama poster, while partially being a Holmes story. It would feel very weird at the beginning as the character sketches for Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes don’t match with the popular Sherlock movies. Still, there’s a strong resemblance to their traits as described by Conan Doyle. It was confusing at first. I could match them as the characters in Doyle’s books but still found it revolting against the beautiful Mr. Iron Man or Dr. Strange. I guess, that’s what real life action shows do to the book heroes. Henry Lloyd-Hughes did a fine job in bringing back the annoying Sherlock back to screen. Interestingly, they had a few of the Conan’s 221B people, like Inspector Lestrade and Land lady Mrs. Hudson, but with weird personalities.

Directed by: Harry Bradbeer
Screenplay by: Jack Thorne
Based on: The Enola Holmes Mysteries: The Case of the Missing Marquess
by Nancy Springer
*ring: Millie Bobby Brown, Sam Claflin, Henry Cavill, Helena Bonham Carter

To get a different perspective, watched Enola Holmes before writing this. Now, who doesn’t like anything of Milli Bobby Brown. She is a pleasure to watch in the movie. Constantly breaking down the fourth wall, she gives us a glimpse of her mind by talking directly. That made this fun to watch. It felt like a hobbit show with the background score and pretty landscaping. It’s got Helena Carter as Enola’s Mom, and bless yourselves, Henry Cavill as a charming Sherlock, Samuel Claflin as Mycroft along with a funny Inspector Lestrade. A heartwarming watch to be exact. The movie is an adaptation from The Enola Holmes Mysteries by American author Nancy Springer. The story, dialogues, funny gags all perfectly in sync in the movie, which happens to be co-produced by Milli Brown herself.

Until I write again.🙂

Castlevania

From Wiki: [Castlevania is an American anime-influenced adult animated streaming television series on Netflix produced by Frederator Studios. Based on the Japanese video game series of the same name by Konami, the first two seasons adapt the 1989 entry Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse and follow Trevor Belmont, Alucard and Sypha Belnades as they defend the nation of Wallachia from Dracula and his minions. Additionally, characters and elements from the 2005 entry Castlevania: Curse of Darkness are featured beginning in the second season, and Alucard’s backstory is drawn from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. The art style is heavily influenced by Japanese animation and Ayami Kojima’s artwork.]

There are some big names involved in this show. Never really went through the wiki of a show before writing this. Although the first season had started long back, I started watching it only last year on Netflix recommendations.

Very rarely we get to see Dracula painted not as a villain but a troubled soul. This show has some of the epic action scenes among the non – japanese animes I have seen. Although it has some Japanese art and artists included in the making, it’s from a US production house. I would like to issue a warning to those who don’t like bloodshed. To my relief, it was okay to watch even while eating, if that helps😅.

Third season is a bit slow in comparison to the others. The first and fourth being the best among all. It has everything ; Lots of pretty vampires, good looking humans, mind blowing action sequences and a few here and there sarcastic romances. And most importantly, it’s not at all a show for children.

A quick googling before this blog post, informed me of the cancelled creator Warren Ellis, who was accused of sexual misconduct by several women. This piece of information made me feel guilty of watching this and loving it. Although the cast and crew shouldn’t suffer the consequences but isn’t it a moral responsibility of everyone that’s involved to stop working with him. This requires a separate rant post altogether.😅

Until, I write again. 🙂

18 Again

Written by : Ahn Eun-bin, Choi Yi-ryool, Kim Do-yeon
Directed by : Ha Byung-hoon
*ring : Kim Ha-neul, Yoon Sang-hyun, Lee Do-hyun

A rom-com to be exact. A sweet love story of a couple who grew old together. Some very strong acting in the whole show. With almost no generic stereotyping and racism included, it’s a safe watch.

The most common trait in these korean dramas is the beauty of the cinematography. There are hardly any okay shots, all if them being beautiful in their own rights. The new and old ages are perfectly shot and transitioned through. Although, the sepia tone seems to be how the old times are depicted. And, guess what, that’s how the Hollywood sees the country India as a whole!!

The struggles of the couple being parents at a very young age, being forsaken by their families and system is although very unrealistic, still believable, mostly because of the actors involved. Giving up on their childhood dreams felt too real on the screen.

How is it that our parents have a parallel hidden childhood which ceases to exist after they become parents..?!! Is this the true definition of being an adult in our society?! Why can’t people remain true to themselves without sacrificing all of themselves for the kids..??!! Isn’t it too much of burdensome expectations on the children?! The children have to turn up and make the long lost dreams come true. And, thus, the vicious cycle of unfulfilled dreams continue through generations. This becomes the culture itself. Why is it that the kids who get married at any age suddenly turn into adult and act a certain kind..?!

Until, I write again. 🙂

Sapiens: A brief history of humankind

The title of the book is pretty much self explanatory. I had opted to listen to the audible version of the book. It took me about a month to finish this almost 15 hrs long book. I was taking it slow. Quite slow to be exact.

The book is a great summary of historical facts from all around the world. Starting from the evolution of Homo Sapiens till the end of colonialism in the world. As per Harari’s analogy, I guess prehistoric hunter gatherers were much happier than the present day human being stuck in the rat race. He discusses the creation and propagation of various religions throughout the world. He also talks about the extinction of various species as we, humans started taking over the earth. Extinction of the dinosaurs led to the evolution of original mammals like mammoths, whose disappearances led to the evolution of homo sapiens. He talks about how J. Robert Oppenheimer “father of the atomic bomb” can certainly be awarded nobel peace prize as he has successfully reduced the chances of world wars.

The book is worth every ounce of time and money. There’s even a graphic art version of the book available. It made me more interested on Indian history and now, I am listening to Inglorious Empire. History, indeed is interesting, unlike my school experience. I used to hate history and Biology in my school days, and had promised to not take up these two subjects later in higher education. 😅 Not that any of it matters anymore.

I usually like reading fiction. Reading these non fiction makes me overthink things which I can’t control. How do you read non-fiction? I observed that I usually place the writer on a pedestal and consider whatever is written as the ultimate truth, which is obviously very common in fictions. This book made me think, what if the author is making up stuff and fabricating facts..!! The media is anyway good at doing it. So do the historians. Do people read these books as fiction and let them be as it is, or consider the writer’s truth to be the ultimate or keep on looking for different versions of truth to make a judgement on it..!! Is it that I don’t know how to read non fictions..!! 😅

Until I write again. 🙂

Tribhanga : Tedhi Medhi Crazy

The title is derived from an indian classical dance pose from Odissi, which is described as imperfect but beautiful quite like the lives of the three women [from wiki].

Tribhanga (tribend) odissi posture (source : stock adobe)

This movie has a very strong female cast and is directed by Renuka Shahane. And again it’s on Netflix. Don’t mind, I’m just stating the reasons to watch this movie. Watched the whole movie praying for no odissi appropriations. Fortunately, there were none and instead, they get a cookie point, for the reference made to Padma Vibhusan Kelucharan Mohapatra (that’s how he is famously known as). I guess, Odissi is well known among the artists and taken a bit seriously unlike the slapstick forced comedy on languages and cultures. There were nothing much on and about the dance.

In an ideal world, no parent really wants their kids to go through hardships. But, they have their own situations and personal issues. They are doing what’s the correct thing to do, as per them. Most of the times, the actions are a repercussions to their elders’ actions. Our parents are just struggling to keep up with the times while trying to hold the remnants of the culture taught to them from their elders. There’s this thing; they also have become parents for the first time in their life and are still figuring out how things function in today’s smart world. And most of time, their parents’ are the references for good or bad parenting.

The estranged relationships lack a major thing : communication. If we keep aside our ego and just talk it out, so much of the issues would be solved. All the silences between “We know that they know that we know”s (Is referencing Friends in this sad context, a bad idea..!!) keep on fuelling these unspoken battles. It’s normal to wonder, why these adults are not able to grasp hold of a situation and understand when to stop talking. The thing is, people don’t really change a lot after their 20s. The teenage and twenties is the time, people have maximum of their character growth. Sure, exceptions are there. Hats off to them, who try to change their perspective for the kids and younger ones. Most of the people stop putting an effort to change later. So, expecting those to understand our point of view is really a waste of time. Trying to change their point of view is even worse. The next very humane thing we often do is to give up on those people. 😅 Some of this weird hassle can be avoided if we try a bit more to think from their point of view, which is a rare thing to do in itself. At least we are putting an effort to mend some distances.

Whew..!!! I guess, there was nothing much about the movie here. 😅 The whole cast is just par excellence. Everyone, being a seasoned actor, acts the shit out of their characters. There were a few meh things to complain. A woman being the bridge between these wonderful characters would have been just perfect. We don’t always need men to be the sutradhaar, even in these women centric movies. Not that any of the men stole the show from the women. We had Tanvi Azmi and Kajol on lead roles, stealing limelight from them is very difficult. Overally it’s a good movie which showcases the various aspects of a mother-daughter relationship and how that affects their whole lifestyle.

Written and Directed by : Renuka Shahane
*ring : Kajol, Tanvi Azmi, Mithila Palkar

With cheers to the changing times of Bollywood, until I write again. 🙂

The 90’s show

Having grown up in 90’s, while watching up Karan Johar’s art has to be the absolute worst thing to have happened to most of us. Forcing some weird examples of love, romances, and some of creepiest friendships onto millions is just too much power to be vested in one man. Not calling out the Barjatyas’ family values and hypocrisies would be a sin too. These big budget family shows made by the rich men make the 90’s cringy.

These Malhotras and Raichands in plain boring black suits have ruled the TV sets throughout, some by Bollywood, some by the Ekta Kapoor. The music was always the best part of it. Although, some of it was copied or “inspired” (as they like to refer them), those are the one’s, we still remember and sing in the antaksharis (national indoor game of 90’s kids). How do even the Jumna Chumma and Tamma Tamma co exist!! It must have been a wild time for the musicians of bollywood.

Coming back to the most endearing plot lines for those movies, the friendships and romances. SRK is the best and worst thing to happen to all of us. Before him, we just had angry young men falling in love with the damsels with a few exceptions offcourse. SRK became the quintessential lover in the movies. In the country, where love was a fantasy to live in, SRK sold himself to the millions as the perfect Hero. The roles he portrayed would be considered creepy and stalker behavior now. Well, the 80’s were mirrored in them this way for sure. There were tonnes of force-romanticized Arjun Reddys in those movies and it was totally a normal thing then. Those were all sold to the public as entertainment, or as we call it here, mass movies.

There were loads of good male friendships in those movies. Friendships is something, only males had cracked the code (as if!!) . The females were just known for envy and competitive story lines. Even the magazines used to pitch the actresses against each other and had stories of cat fights. How original and innovative of them, encashing gossip as if it’s their birthright.

(Top) Mujhse Dosti Karogi. (Bottom) Kabhie Khusi Kabhi Gham.

The typical Poo character (as in mean girls!!) was a standard set. Not like her is “not being like Other girls” in colloquial terms. Being like her refers to the girls moving in groups with discussions on fashion and boys (sure!! you wish!!). Reducing millions of personalities to a mere 5-6 generalized kinds is what bollywood did to us. A sure tip for the people here, in the friendships you forge in your life, be a Tina (Mujhse Dosti Karoge) and not a Poo (K3G). Whatever personality you have doesn’t matter until you treat your friends as an equal. Nobody deserves to be treated as a bollywood side kick. You are just losing precious relationships and people in your life. However macho or cool vibes you plan on showing off, show some damn respect to your friends. People who survive through this shit, there’s a need to have some self love and moving on to new friends for better mental health.

The movies we watch as kids, have so much impact on the character growth. For some people, that’s all the exposure they can afford in their small towns or villages. Having entertainment at the expense of misogyny and false chauvinism has cost us this age of mad mob actions. Hope that changes soon.

Until I write again. 🙂

Ask 101

It is a Turkish TV show released on 24th April, 2020, with just 8 episodes in the first season. The second one is supposed to get released in 2021. I have watched a few other Turkish shows earlier on YouTube, where, I was recommended this series. Not trying to be all ethical here, but I have made a mental note of using the authentic source whenever possible. It’s my way of trying to help a small group of people. Not that it changes the world. Still, I would like to believe that I am someway helping the production staff by reducing piracy.

This show, like what the name suggests, is nothing like the usual fluffy hopeless romantic stuff. It’s about a group of “misfits”, as we call them, high school kids and their friendship. I was quite an ideal student in my school days, and not so ideal in my engineering. Let’s put that on engineering college😁. And as per my ideal upbringing, I was made to believe that alcohol and smoking are only done by the bad people. Offcourse it was a li’l about being dangerous to health and all, but I was sure those people are Bad. I was quite afraid of them shamefully untill my engineering life 🙈. In college, one gets to see so many varieties of people around. Hostel adds upto them. I am sure a guy with a similar upbringing would have got shocked when they enter the boys hostels. As usual, the ratio of both the number of girls and the number of “Bad” (this is the last time I am using this adjective) girls is lesser in girls hostel to that of boys’ hostel. I remember being low key afraid of seniors (again, those Bhaiyas) who asked a few intros while smoking. I am a lot braver now. 😅 Atleast, I hope so🤞. Obviously, working in a professional career made much difference. There were so many experiences which changed me for good. Now, I hate guys who just gossip and shit talk about girls while drinking and still be their friends when they are sober. But still, better no. 😅

Directed by : Ahmet Katıksız, Deniz Yorulmazer
🌟ring : Mert Yazıcıoğlu, Kubilay Aka, Alina Boz, Selahattin Paşalı, İpek Filiz Yazıcı, Pınar Deniz, Kaan Urgancıoğlu

Back to the series, this show talks about a group of kids who think they are the decision makers, who can run the world (who doesn’t!! ). Each of them behave nothing like an ideal student in a high school. The teachers have been traumatized by their mischiefs and hell bent on getting them expelled. Except for one. The lady wants to seek the good in all of them and protects them. Being a teacher’s kid, in the starting, I was quite sympathetic to the teachers. Later, as they show the kids’ individual stories, the “sympathy” starts changing sides. We all get to know their personal issues and their struggles and how they build up a team to continue winning over life.

The casting should be good as all of them have done their part really well. I finished the series in one go, 7 hours straight. Couldn’t even speed up as reading subtitles take a bit time. The cinematography is pretty like the city Istanbul itself.

I had read somewhere, one goes to therapy because their of the people who did not opt to go. This seems to fit pretty well in this show. All of them struggle a lot within themselves. We take our environment and happy families very granted and still find issues in them. To be honest, all bullies are really are a result of their own inferiority complexes. But, obviously it’s not enough an excuse to hurt others. (From my very limited experience, I guess) People with their own complex, start showing off in front of their peers or friends, in turn make the shy, silent ones gain inferiority complex over nothing. A vicious cycle. What if, the adults try fixing themselves and their kids instead. And then abruptly end the cycle. Too far fetched a dream..!! I wonder..!!

Until, I write again. 🙂

Axone

Directed by: Nicholas Kharkongo
*ing: Dolly Ahluwalia, Sayani Gupta, Lin Laishram, Vinay Pathak, Lanuakum Ao, Tenzin Dalha

The movie talks about so many topics in it’s mere 96 mins. We miss such diversity in bollywood proclaimed by the kapoors, chopras and khans. It’s 70% about the punjabis. It’s literally everywhere. I have more ideas of how a karwachauth is performed than my very own savitri puja, off course it’s totally the johar styled one. But still, you get my point. No offense against any culture. We only have some bangali screen sharing, when there’s a need of weird hindi speaking people. A li’l more gujrati custom for the Dandiyas and music. They start culturally appropriating the south culture as all 5 states are conveniently amalgamated into one for them. Let’s not start talking about Odisha here. There’s no funds coming from that place anyway. So..there you go, we have completed the tour of the country for bollywood. 🙄 Umm… the northeast, it’s ok.. Let Pappon handle all of that single handedly.

This movie depicts the current (something of more present simple than present continuous though) issues in a subtle manner. It doesn’t overwhelm at any point of time with all the horrors that actually happens. So, it’s safe to watch🤡. Actually, the north eastern Indians are way too polite and forgiving when they chose to identify themselves as Indians. The social malice they face when they, like every other Indian, move to some big cities in search of better opportunities and life. The locals (#notAll off course, we all know this turn of events) make sure that they know; it’s not their place, not their basic rights, not their food.

The main topic which the movie talks about is akhuni or axone literally meaning deep aroma. Nothing aggressive, but still, I remember having these conversations among our friends about their food that stinks. But it should be fine, right? They have their own preferences like we have ours. Nobody’s forcing any food on the other.

Among all the actors/ actresses, Sayani Gupta is the most popular with many previous bollywood big budget appearances. Although she plays an important role among all. She doesn’t appear as the sole savior for all of them. Not at all a one woman show. The whole cast is superb in portraying the theme of the movie. Kudos to the big aluminum casserole for successful multiple appearances.

Until, I write again 🙂

Marriage Story

Marriage is a complex relationship. It needs as much as care and nurture as a child needs to grow up. We literally grow up with the spouse. The movie depicts the struggles of a marriage turning into a divorce. Each person connected to the marriage gets affected in their own way. It’s a wonderful portrayal of the lives getting scattered from the routine life, and then slowly collect themselves.

Directed By Noah Baumbach
*ing: Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver, Laura Dern

In a family, usually the people around us are taken fir granted, which shouldn’t be the case but still quite a bit normal for most of us. It does not work that way in a marriage. It has to be equal. 50/50 always. There’s no consideration of a person being excused for being more intelligent or able. Nobody is more than the other one. The person considered being more can’t handle be a family by themselves anyway. We all are imperfect beings in our own right. Well, for a normal human being, perfection is a myth. Rather than starting a blame game, it’s better to accept the partner with all their faults.

I may sound as an age old banyan tree, acting all wise and all. But it’s the truth that all relationships need care from both sides. No person in all their glory can be 100% giving with no expectations. And the longer we wish for the relationship to last, it becomes more gentle and needy.

And if nothing works out, it is a good thing to go separate ways and grow happier. Division has to be the best case scenario, agreeing on the fact that both people are with healthy minds. Nobody should live and adjust with a psychopathic tormentor.

This became a report rather than a review. Just laying down chunks of my thoughts here randomly, as I do always. Mental health is not anything to be taken lightly. It’s a constant cancer we all have to live with. Accepting is the first step. Then we proceed on finding a cure or fix. There are so many people just stuck in unhappy marriages due to absurd reasons. Understanding the root cause and finding a solution is a must.

Until, I write again. 🙂

Never Have I Ever

This popped up in my netflix reminder recommendation some days back. I added it to my list considering Mindy Kaling is too big a name to avoid.

It released on April 27th ’20. And to be very specific, I finished watching it on 28th April ’20, morning 6 am. I started it to kill the boredom of not able to sleep. And somehow binged the complete series. I know, it’s a serious problem. It shouldn’t be continued for the the sake of a healthy body and mind. But, again, in my defense I don’t really want to just lie on bed waiting to fall asleep for a good 4-5 hours, not doing anything.

The pilot was just okay. It’s a story based on a normal american teenager trying very hard to fit into the school and make new friends. A very old typical american teen show script.

The characters in the show are from various races which is very common in an american school right now, I guess. The script is a little predictable but good. It won’t bore you out at any point, unless until there’s too much expectation of it being a thriller experience which, let’s accept it from the beginning, is not gonna happen. It’s a teenage rom-com drama. As simple as that. The whole cast is quite good. Poorna and Sendhil are seasoned actors doing best at whatever they do. The kids are pretty nice too. These OTT drama and movies are giving opportunities to so many new talents everywhere.

And, it’s exactly what it is. Just a few desi people living a normal american life. No forced cultural appropriation for the sake of adding a twist to the white character’s school life. It shows the same teenage drama just with a desi twist. Somewhere in some episode, I realized that’s what it aimed to be. To portray fellow desi Americans as very similar to the white Americans with a little different set of issues in their lives. Just that everybody is struggling while trying to lead a normal life. There are so many parts in the drama I fell in love with, though clichéd. The lead Devi has a particular conversation with a cousin in a community arranged function (so clichéd, right!! ). He talked about how he doesn’t want to be apologetic to be a desi any more. After being away from home for a while, he loved to return home and be as desi as possible in the community. Don’t we all struggle a little bit of whether to be completely us or a modified version of us in a new surrounding, afraid to be judged by the people around, trying to fit in.

Cultural appropriation or Cultural misappropriation is the act of adopting elements of an outside, often minority culture, including knowledge, practices, and symbols, without understanding or respecting the original culture and context. I googled it. It’s a complex thing with gray boundaries. In short, putting on a bindi and making a claw hand gesture doesn’t make anybody woke and hip or trendy. Just google it. Reading and knowing a bit more would nothing but humbles a person.

I guess, humans are racist to each other everywhere. It may be more commonly found in places where there are more variety of races and cultures live together. At other places, people simply are not just that exposed to outside world. But most of us all are inherently racist. People start questioning and repelling the differences rather than accept new things. To change everybody’s mindset will take time, for sure. But still it needs to be done sooner than later. As a human race, we have come so far, but still question our own existences. With all these adverse changes in earth, hope we attain the ultimate objective of being global citizens before everything gets destroyed.

Until, I write again. 🙂